Manage To Revamp A BH In Raub !!!

I was in Bentong, Pahang and of course I visited my BH there.

The very good news is that the first signs of nests are pretty obvious. After three months at last my effort is showing the result expected.

The only sad thing was that the number of birds flying around Bentong Town is not many. There are lots of those migratory birds (Martin).

While in Bentong contacted a friend (blog reader) in Raub and told him that I will be passing thru. He was very happy to have me in his town because he wanted to show me what he has done with this B-I-L BH.

After a good Kepala Ikan Curry, stop at the BH under revamp and I was surprised with what they have done based on my earlier recommendations. Wow, the place much better then before and now I feel like in a BH.

Looks okay however the room temperature and humidity is still not to my specification. I told them to shut those ventilation holes and the exhaust fan. On the top of that increase the number of Humidifiers to three.

A new set of tweeters have yet to arrive and the data room new area is about to take shape. Told the owner to add a few more nesting planks below the concrete beams, hidden corners and that area below those cement protrusions.

This will create additional nesting areas with minimum intervention. I hope by next week the whole place will be in good shape before they start those new sounds that I have assembled for them.

I am very sure this BH is going to be one of the best in Raub.

Invited To A Special Meeting !!!

Today received a special official invitation from a Government Department responsible in the drafting of Guidelines in Swiftlet Farming.

I wish I know why but there is a strong chance that I will be able to give my best opinions on what the Government should do to help the farmers.

There are many things that the Government can do but at the same time there are also many things that the farmers can do too.

The date of the first meeting in sometime next week and I will try to advise my blog readers on some of the tangible points that are crucial in the draft guidelines.

To those who have some ideas on what they think the Government should put into the guidelines please forward them to my email address: harryswiftlet@yahoo.com with the title: My Ideas On What are the Things The Government Should Do.

Yesterday I visited a place called Ulu Beranang, N 9. It was more like an agricultural land but were sold in lots.

While visiting a friend's piece of land I saw a 90% completed BH. The owner came over to meet my friend and he have this unique experience.

After starting the project he was trying to be good citizen and went to see the Local Council.

The moment he went in he was told that he cannot built any BH even in his agricultural land.

Two days later he received a letter from the Local PBT requesting him to demolish the BH.

He regretted for being a good citizen. His other neighbors, who stay away from those unreasonable PBT people, until today never receive such letter.

What a joke and these PBT people are making people erecting more illegal BHs. They are supposed to help but not creating the illegal mindset.

However in the case of Kedah, the PBT in the whole state have the opposite way of looking at legalizing BHs.

I was on the phone a few days back with Dr.R from Jabatan Veterinary, Putra Jaya. He was in SPatani when I called him and he indicated that he was on the way to meet the Local Council.

"Harry, some good news. The state of Kedah will issue license to all BH owners".

While in Besut, Trengganu, I received a call from a BH owner who recently received a letter from the local council penalizing him with RM 25,000 for converting his shop to BH. According to him, the local council warn him that they will continue sending more summon until he shut his BH down. Yes a RM 25,000 every month.

In Tanjung Malim (TM) , Perak, the Ketua Pengarah have a move positive attitude. He was there in the morning when GAHP seminar (June2008) was conducted inTM. He lauched the seminar and during its closing he was again there to give away those precious certificate of attendence. During his opening speach he gave the assurance that he was supportive of swiftlet farming and if anyone wanted to invest in swiftlet farming just come over to his office.

You can see what I mean by attitudes.

Someone have to convince them that they are not doing anything good to the Industry. They are in fact going against the call from Dato Najib Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister Who confirmed that the Government encourage this trade.

If I were the Government, I will do the followings:

1) I will set up a special "Lembaga" or "Department" to look into swiftlet farming in Malaysia. It is similar to Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan, Lembaga Penanaman Tembakau, Lembaga Kemajuan Kelapa Sawit Malaysia (MPOB), Lembaga Kemajuan Penanaman Padi and etc. This is due to the fact that this swiftlet farming industry is potentially very huge Industry. Total yearly income might touch a few billion ringgit a year. The Lembaga will be responsible in coming out with the action plans on how to promote the industry and how to help every farmer who are keen to invest in this new and popular farming industry.

2) Legalize all birdhouses in the whole of Malaysia. All BH owners shall be given the appropriate licenses but their license shall be conditional.

3) Once you have all their details you can now be in contact with all of them. You have a data base of BH owners.

4) Each license is valid for at least one year. The longer the better. Every time the license expired they need to reapply.

5) PBT should set up a task force specially dedicated to BH licensing matter. All inspectors who are involved shall be trained to enforce the proper rulings on the right ways of looking after a BH. Only those who comply with these rules will be given a clean bill or else they will be issued with a conditional license.

6) All BH owners must attend a few Courses that are sectioned by PBT. This include the GAHP or a special course conducted by each Local Council. They are compulsory.

7) BH should not be ugly looking. Those building that are converted should be nice looking from the external. They must blend with the surrounding and not a bad sore thumb.

8) Those monkey house on the top of the roof should not be given the license. Open roof entrances should be encourage or preferred.

9) Using open roof will also cut down the noise to the minimum. If they are still causing any nuisance, the owner should use those ultrasonic gadget.

10) BH should never be constructed in any residential home. Good example in a condominium where there are people staying downstairs and birdhouse on the top.

11) In a shop house or a shopping complex, they can be but must follow a strict rules that they are well looked after. A good practice on how to maintain the BH to an optimum condition need to be enforced.

12) Birdhouse can be located in a shopping area but they must not be too close to a residential area. A fair distance of about 20 meters is encouraged.

13) The government should promote the farming to be made on any farm or agricultural land within a limit of say 5 kilometers from main town center.

14) All BH shall be required to post a note on the premise the details of the owner or the caretaker plus their license details and when they expires. The note shall be properly framed in a waterproofed cover to prevent blotting and big enough to read by the inspectors.

15) Beside the owner details each BH shall be required to hang the appropriate certificate of attendance of GAHP seminars or any sanctioned Seminars by the Owner in the premise.

16) Each BH must have a proper log book to record any activities that are very important to the inspection works. Good example is the record of inspection done by the PBT Inspectors. What they wanted the owner to rectify. The owner will then record their rectification works when they carried out and the outcome.

There are a few more and I hope I can get myself ready to work closely with the Department for the sake for swiftlet industry.

We need to find ways to make both the government and the farmers to work together to harvest this special white gold from the sky.

One Of The Best BirdHouse Kondo Ever Visited !!!

I used to see photos and a few here and there construction of birdhouse kondo nesting planks constructions.

This time I manage to see the real full view of a Kondo configurations.

These pictures were taken in Kota Bahru Kelantan and I would like to share with all by blog readers.

Just look at the way those wooden planks were arrange both on the ceiling beams and the walls.

I am amazed with the complexcity of the construction and I just hope the wall and the ceiling can withstand the weight.

They look very nice and well done complete with a number of fake nets installed at many stratigic locations.

I wonder how much more wood were purchased to make make the Kondo in place.

A normal BH (20 x 70 feet)with normal configuration will need about 1-.15 matric ton of the red meranti. If with the Kondo I think it might be doubled or more.

As long as they are will done and no voids at the back then I fully back the construction.

Any gap or voids will be a heaven for those tick, bugs and cockroach.

What ever it is, I am very happy to see one that really works.

Enjoy viewing these pictures:

Birdnest Soup Result in Seremban !!!

The above nest was the result of the use of raw bird nest soup.

The BH owner, Mr.C, wanted me to write a bit about it in my blog.

He was very happy with the soup and plan to apply more on a regular basis.

If you observe closely, double click on the photo, you see that the nest is actually built in between a joint. The gap must have provided more of the soup as compared to the rest of the placed applied with the soup.

The nest was pretty big. A bit dirty at the bottom but cleaner on the top.

Also the nest was closed to the ceiling and they are not at any corner.

You can make a few conclusions from analysing this picture:

1) Out of the many spots applied with the soup, this location was successful to attract the swiftlet to it. The gap must have accumulated more of the soup in between thus giving the smell more time to attract the bird.

2) The bird tend to built their nest close to the ceiling. This might be for them to feel save and protected. Normally if they built at any corner, the nests are located lower.

3) The nest was the largest found in the house. I believed the bird might be a sizable couple and they might not be a young swiftlet. They might have moved from an old house to this new home.


I have a few more comments to make but I think the above are more then enough.

What I wanted to teach my blog readers is about being observant. Everything that you see in your BH you need to do some assessment. Observe them carefully and come out with some reasons for you to learn.

These reasons can be very useful in providing you with the next step towards increasing your BH nests population.

How about applying your bird soup on only those wood joints?

How about applying them on a more regular basis?

How about make the soup much thicker?

How about applying the soup at corners?

You might not agree with me but there is nothing wrong to try those ideas?

Best of luck to all of you who are keen to learn something new.......

Birdcall Test In Rembau, N9.

Last weekend I took my wife and her very close friend to Port Dickson Avillion Hotel.

We were thinking of getting to know this new resort that provide many special things especially their SPA and chalets which were built obove those sea water.

Well we were given the merry go around. There were two Avillion hotels along the same beach. The first was the Chalet style (Avillion Port Dickson) while the other was a hotel block (Avillion Admiral Cove).

We make a mistake of booking online and we booked the wrong hotel.

Well I think the owner was so stupid of misleading people to the wrong place. In the first place why should they use the same Hotel name along the same beach? I nearly lost my head but after listening to the cost per night, I think my wife mistake was not bad after all.

The Chalet cost per night was between rm800 to rm1,500 while the admiral cove was between 300 to 800 per night.

Anyway, immediately after checking in, one of my blog reader Mr.P, was at the lobby with his friend Mr.Y waiting to take me over to a field trip.

We, me, my wife and her friend, hooped into his car and we went to the piece of land, somewhere in Rembau, where Mr.P has been thinking about building his first BH.

We took almost 40 minutes to reach there.

Upon reaching the land, about 1 kilometer from the main road, I came out to view the land which he planted with palm oil seedling interlaced with bananas. The land was undulating and we stood on the highest part of it.



Hmm... I cannot see any swiftlets. There were a couple of Martins but not a single walet.....

May be it was too early to see them flying home to roost.

Upon a very close observations there were one or two in the horizon and my suspicion was right.

The land was not directly below a flying path.

Well to prove that there were some swiftlets around I suggest Mr.P to play my Duress using his car CD player, the gadget was not ready and yet to be fixed.

Within lest then 2 minutes, there they were. A few 10ths and later there were about 50 birds flying above the car.

The birds, the majority, came from one direction and we called in from the telekom towers.

I told Mr.P if he should use the gadget, the number can be easily increased to double.

He was so impressed with the sound. Before this he used to test using some other sound but the number was not more then 3. To make it more he have to add those mynah, merbok and martins into his tabulation. He he he...

Duress, to him, is still the best and the most powerful.

Suddently Those Swiftlets Went Missing !!!

I have been pondering about where do the birds went missing and then suddenly they are back to the house.

I was not alone. Last week Dr.U called and said that he got the same thing happened at his own birdhouse in Alor Star.

"Hey Harry, today there are not birds. All of them are missing. Where do you thing they have gone to?".

I thought I was the only one facing the situation and now I know that there are others who experienced face the same.

Dr, don't worry they will back soon. Just trust me. I told him.

This phenomena in general have something to do with the season and weather. During dry seasons, your swiftlets needs to travel further to find food. As such they tend to be back home very late in the evening and once arrived they will swoop into you BH and straight to the resting planks. They do not fly around anymore due to their long journey.

On a cool wet day, especially after a heavy rainfall, these birds tend to be back much earlier and maybe the rain might have activated those insects to fly out thus feeding these swiftlets to the max. You can see more of them flying around or above your roof top (subject to your bird call sound played.

How far can these swiftlet fly?

It was documented that they can fly for more then 40 hours non stop at a top speed of 120 kilometer/hour. Just imagine 40X120 = 4,800 kilometers of a non stop journey?

Sometime when look up on the sky and you can see, very high above the sky, those birds flying home and they seem to have little effect to your test call. Why are they not responding?

The reason,I recently discovered, was that they have a special timing to reach their home on the dot. If you carefully observe their home coming behaviors, they tend to be inside their house by about 7.50pm (in Peninsular Malaysia). To reach that particular time and the distance to cover, they timed their flight precisely. Once the time is up they will fly straight home and nothing can distract them.

During breeding season, especially when they have those babies in their nest, the birds also behave the same. They have this instinct to fly straight home to feed their babies and bring home water. During their flight home, nothing will distract them.

So if you play those bird call sound and you can see many above you and they are not bothered to come down, just think about this new findings. Well of course your sound also do have their part to lure those birds.

Special Forum Limited To Those Who Have Purchased My Birdcall Gadget !!!

Just wanted to advise all that I have initiated a new forum on swiftlet sound forum.

You can find it at: http://groups.google.com.my/group/swiftletsound

This special forum is dedicated to those who purchased those birdcall Gadget from me.

My idea is to help them to test some of those birdcall sounds that I have collected. Currently I have not less then 50 external sounds and 20 internal sounds.

As advised, if you want to be a successfull swiftlet rancher/farmer you need to start a library of swiftlet birdcall sounds. Trust me, the more sound that you have in your collection the better you will be.

Those who only have one or two you will have a very tought time to pull those wild birds onto their BH and worse to pull them into the house. Just imagine after two to three months, no birds are responding to your old sound, what choice do you have?

I came out with this idea where those who have bought the gadget can share some of those sounds in my collection. I will download at least one sound a month, about 1-2 minutes.

In the event they are good, shows lots of response, they might want to purchase the whole sound. Each sound will be within an effortable range of RM 150 to RM 500. The money collected will allow me to put more effort in collecting more sounds in the market for all you guys to try.

The best is that you will will not be wasting your money since you can listen and even test first. If they are good then you can decide to buy them.

If you have purchased the gadget, please advise your purchased date, and let me have your email address.

To those who have yet to purchase the gadget, I advise you to do soon. You will miss the golden opportunity to be a member of this unique forum.

Call Harry at 017 755 1318 and book the gadget now.

Another Interesting Story: A Broken Relationship (missed by 1 cm)!!!

I met a lady birdhouse enthusiast a few weeks back.

She was frantically is distressed and I begin to understand why.

It was all about a broken relationship (closed to) with a childhood friends just because their BH was not doing well.

Well the story was like this:

Both of them went into a venture in swiftlet farming about one year ago and after 6 months they were in a very big dilemma where the BH was not showing a fair result.

They did exactly the same like many others. Give the BH key to their so call "Consultant" and let him managed to the best that he could.

After reading my blog, they become inquisitive and started to pay some attention to the house.

They keep asking the "Consultant" on why their BH was not as good as their neighbor and so on.

What happened next was the last straw. The "Consultant" move out of town.

This unforeseen action makes both of them loose their confident. This eventually led to a very strained relationship just because their BH was not progressing very well.

I can see their body language and I have a very strong feeling the partner blamed the other party who dragged her into such a venture.

What I did was just to provide my honest opinions on the BH status.

Once arrived I took great pain to observe what the house were lacking and to my surprise the BH was well done. Better then the one in Raub. Fine and well thought off except for some minor issues.

This was the first BH that installs a kind of additional nesting platform about 30cm width and all along the BH walls. They have a roof to cover those birdshit from any nest above. Another marvelous idea to increase the nesting area in a BH especially those that are full to the maximum.

After closing those ventilation holes, I advised her last week, the room temperature and humidity were perfect.

I took lots of time to study the house condition and played a few new sounds that I brought along with me.

At around 5 to 6 pm have a good look on the flight path. Yes there were a number of birds passing by above the BH. Looks good but not as good as that in Kota Bahru.

After the long visit, I confessed to them that the BH was well done and there were birds flying above them. They only problem that they have is how to lure those birds into their BH.

Well I promised to prepare a short recommendation and provide a few new sounds that I got in my collection.

I am very sure there is a very good chance to pull those birds into theirs.

Soon after, I saw some change in the way they talked to each other.

They feel much better and there are some light in the horizon.

I just hope they will stick together as a good friend forever and do not let the BH be the cause of loosing someone that you know from young.

I am quite sure that my soft assurance has changed their stand on their swiftlet farming decision. They did the right thing but they choose the wrong person to be their "Consultant".

Flying Path Is My Preferred Location Selection Criteria !!!

Out of so many selection criteria’s of a proper piece of land to be developed into a BH Eco Park I choose the flying path as my utmost important.

Do you know why?

Simple, because once you are below them the chances for you to lure those birds down are very very great. Trust me on this particular issue. Just imagine every morning and evening there were 100 to 500 thousand birds flying above your birdhouse. Just pull a fraction of those birds, you will have a new beginning.

Every season there will be many young birds that will fly out for their maiden flight to the eating ground. When they pass you BH in the morning they can be easily lured down to inspect your new BH. When evening comes, again you can lure them with those sweet melodies.

If you do this seduction every day for 365 days a year, I am sure some will come and stay in you BH.

I was with someone in KB a few weeks ago. He was fairly new in this swiftlet business and was eager to find a suitable land to be used as his maiden venture.

He took me to a few of the BHs that he was building for some of those millionaires in KB and showed me several pieces of land that he was offered.

Every time he stops at those pieces of land he will pull the test gadget he bought from me and there he goes luring those wild birds above his car.

After 20 minutes he will estimate the number of birds responded and asked me: "Harry what do you think of the result?”

I always smile and say that: Hmm.... not bad but maybe we should try another place.

What I was doing was more toward giving him the knowledge on how to conduct those birdcall tests properly. He always forgot to stop his car in an open area for the test. Due to those soft laterite roads it was difficult to find suitable open space to conduct the test.

After every test I will provide a kind of remarks that let him to do a few more.

You know something, for every test he conducted, he learn something new.

On the very last day of my stay I advised him to be with me for a drink at around 6pm.

We met and after those drink, I took him for a closer look at those successful birdhouses along the Olympic Jalan Tikus, Kota Bahru, Kelantan.

I asked him to observe what is happening and how many thousands and coming back to the houses. There were at least 30 to 50 thousands a minute (from about 7pm to 8 pm only).

I asked him: Can you tell me which direction are they coming from?

He followed the direction of those birds and retorted: "Harry, they are coming back mainly from those directions crossing the river".

Are you very sure? I asked as if I do not know.

"Yes Harry I am very sure of what I saw".

Okay now let me ask you, where do you think you should choose your dream birdhouse?

"Hmm... below their flying path, that should be on the other side of the river!!"

Now your brain is working. All this while what happen to your thinking cap?

"Oh ya Harry, you are unbelievable and logical. I will make a trip to the other side of the river tomorrow at about the same time and observe their flying back path. Will call you when I find those spot. Thank you and thank you Harry. You are a marvelous person".

No don’t thank me, thank God that he arranged for you to meet me.

I did very little but just to activate some of your brain cells to think and make the most logical decision.

The next day, I was already back in KL, at about 6:30 pm he called.

"Harry I am here a crossed the river as promised and you are damn right. They are thousands of them flying above my head and very crazy man. As promised I will try to locate a piece of land for my swiftlet venture. You are fantastic Harry and you are so sincere in teaching me the right things to do. I owe you one and I will always treasure our relationship".

Well I was very happy that I done something to this guy. I am very sure he will be a very successful swiftlet rancher.

At least he will not be in those failure brackets.

Hope all my blog readers learn something from this simple episode as a blogger.

Have a good day...

Found A Method Of Turning Your BHs From Producing White Nests To Red !!!

Ola !!!

Just imagine you use the word and suddenly those white nests in your BH turns red?

All these while I was on the impression that you can only harvest red nests from Caves.

If there are those who claimed that their BH are producing red nests, they might be something like 20 to 30 years old. The house full of bird shit on the floor and the smell of the ammonia stinks.

Well what about if I tell you that there is a very simple way to do this.

No no, I am not going to tell you directly but what I want to let you know is that there is already people doing this in Malaysia and are successful.

I met him in person and he showed me the nests (processed and raw). Both were reddish/dark yellow.

I was very impressed and feel very great that there is such a technology available in our country.

For those who are interested you might want to consider but at the moment they are only for selected customers who are genuine and are willing to pay for the technology transfer.

Main advantage of this technology is that the raw nests value will increase by at least one thousand ringgit per kilogram as compared to white colored. For process nests, the ceiling can go as high as RM8,500.

Just imagine if your BH is currently producing 30 kilos of raw nests a month. By spending something like 100K plus you will be getting an extra of RM30,000 every months.

No doubt this will be the trend in the next few years and I am sure you will be next in the cue....

For more please write a short note to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Only genuine house owners and those who are willing to pay shall be entertained...

Met Someone Who Is Active In Cross Fostering !!!

Hope all my blog readers read one of my old article about "cross fostering".

Cross fostering refers to using those Serinti birds to adopt AF chicks or eggs.

In many parts of Malaysia and Indonesia, you may find lots of Serinti birds. (Serinti is very similar to AF but they built their nest from casurina tree leaves or fern from tree barks plus 20% saliva). They eat the same food and have rather similar breeding pattern like AF.

The term cross fostering is actually defined as you remove those eggs or young chicks from these Serinti nests and replace them with AF eggs or babies. Need to do them when the birds are away and make sure the item placed are not with human smell.

Today I came across a person from Sabah, Malaysia who is pretty successful in doing this technique.

He started the Serinti farming by accident and after 7 years his house now have a total of 4,000 nests.

He started the cross fostering sometime back and stop about 2 years ago. After looking at the number of birds growing and his neighbors harvesting them he feel that the time have come to do this in a more serious manner.

He intent to install sound system, enclose those areas slowly and perhaps improve the temperature and humidity by stages.

The most effective method of cross fostering, according to him, is to go for chick replacement.

Import those eggs and incubate them. Once they are hatch, swap these babies with Serinti babies. Mark the nests that were replaced.

I am very happy to have met him and I am sure one day I might be able to stop by in Sabah and visit his unique BH.

Want to join my trip?

Call Harry at 017 755 1318

How To Start Your Aroma Application Experimenting !!!

Many people asked me on how to select the right aroma for their new BH.

There is no right answer for it but you might want to try experimenting yourself.

Main factor is that there is no one aroma that can be effective in all locations, as every body thought off.

I have experimented with a few and the results are not that encouranging until today.

It is quite similar to those external sound. They can be good in one
place but they might give very little effect to another location which
might be just a few blocks away.

So you cannot blame the fellow who sell you the aroma but you can do
something that can cut down your cost of experimenting.

My best recommendation is to try something that is cheap and if they
work then stick to them.

For example:

Why dont you read all those articles posted in the duck egg swiftlet
special and try to figure out what aroma can and will do to a BH. Go to http://groups.google.com/group/duck-egg-swiftlet-special/topics?hl=en&start=

After you have finish reading all of them, you might get the idea what
is the cheapest way to start with.

Yes, use the duck egg. Buy let say 5 eggs (about 70 sen a piece, get
the greenish colored shell), remove those yellow york and collect the
white in a container.

You can stir the white and get a brush to apply at one selected area
where you think the birds will be interested to built their nests.
Yes close to the tweeters and possibly near to those corners. Apply
the egg white by soaking the brush (1.5 inch wide) and make a swipe to
about a spot of about 1.5 inches by 4 inches length. Once you have
done one then you make another one. Finish all the 5 duck eggs
application and get some brown box paper and place below the nesting
plank where you have just applied those whites. If those birds
should occupy the area, there will be some signs (birdshits) below on
the brown paper.

Do the inspection every week.

If there are signs of birdshits, your experiment is working. You
should straight away go to the market and buy more duck eggs (make it
10 eggs this time). Repeat the application on the same spots and
extend a bit more.

Remember "do not be greedy". Do them phase by phase.

If there were no signs of any birdshits, then you need to look into
what is the next cheapest method to start a new experiment.

I suggest the birdnest soup.

Call your good friend who owned a BH and ask him for some broken
nests. Say that you want to experiment with bird soup.

Pay about 30 ringgit or so and start doing the boiling like what was
mentioned in the duck egg special.

After slow fire boiling for one hours with the feathers, you need to
pour into a container and cooled it in a fridge.

After that take to your BH and apply the soup similar to the above.

Follow the progress fo about three weeks.

If they works then you need to call your friend again and buy a bit
more for making a new batch of birdnest aroma soup.

Do the same and apply to those same spots and perhaps expand the area phase by phase. DON'T BE GREEDY.

If again this soup also failed, then you need to go a buy a new aroma.

This time you might want to start with your own formula or buy some products, ready made,on the market.

There are many and I am sure you know what I am saying.

If you are still blank, call me at 017 755 1318.

I sincerely hope you will find the right aroma that suits your
location and BH.

Happy trying and don't blame any one if it does not work. Keep trying
and I am sure one day you will find the right aroma......

A Simple Formula On How To Be A Good First Timer In Swiftlet Farming !!!

A few weeks ago I was invited to PWTC (Putra World Trade Center) by a friend who promised to let me collect a few copies of Swiftlet Farming book in Bahasa.

There was an exhibition conducted by TEKUN (a government organisation) on various business opportunities available for business orientated people.

There were at least 100 plus stalls and you can imagine the number of ideas on how to be on your own.

The best was the three stalls that display swiftlet farming business opportunities.

Well when I arrived the friend of mine was away and what I did was to be a busy body and waited in his stall.

The moment he arrived I was taken to the Riverview Coffee house for a teh tarik.

Surprise, surprise and surprise. The moment we sat down, Mr A, a big player in swiftlet farming saw us and he sat down and as usual spoke about how busy he has been with his activities.

The best news was the allocation given by TEKUN, about 2.5 million ringgit for his swiftlet farming projects.

His son, just complete a thesis on swiftlet farming, completed his degree from University Utara Malaysia in Sintok.

The best that I would like to share is the receipt on how to be a successful swiftlet farmer.

His idea is to challenge any body who claim to know a lot in swiftlet farming.

His method of operation is to give the guy a piece of paper and let him write down everything that he/she knows that will make a birdhouse failed.

The idea was to make these items as a checklist when ever you built or owned one.

Our Mr.A is willing to double the list if he is challenged to it.

A marvellous idea and I surely recommend all my blog readers to do what this guy is saying.

The lesson here is, if you want to be successful in your swiftlet venture it is good to have a checklist of all those things which might destroy your project.

Split the items into micro and macro. Micro for internal measures and macro for external environment.

Well you might want to start writing immediately after you finish reading this.

Start with:

Micro:

Internal Temperature must be .....

Humidity ......

Darkness ......

Entrance hole must be.....

.....

......

Macro:

The area must be located on a flat land.

The area must be away from tall trees.

and .......

Good luck my friends.